This invention relates generally to absorbent garments, and more particularly to such absorbent garments having the appearance of conventional clothing.
Personal wear garments and other articles find widespread use as personal care products including, without limitation, diapers, children's toilet training pants, adult incontinence garments, sanitary napkins and the like, as well as surgical bandages and sponges. The primary purpose of such articles is to take in and retain body exudates released by a wearer to thereby prevent soiling of the wearer's or caregiver's clothing. Certain absorbent articles are suitably disposable in that they are intended to be discarded after a limited period of use, i.e., the articles are not intended to be laundered or otherwise restored for reuse. Disposable absorbent articles typically comprise an absorbent body disposed between a liner, which contacts the wearer's skin, and an outer cover, which inhibits liquid body waste absorbed by the absorbent body from leaking out of the article. The liner of the absorbent article is typically liquid permeable to permit liquid body waste to pass therethrough for absorption by the absorbent body.
In particular absorbent articles, such as children's training pants, various attempts have been made to make the articles more visually appealing, such as by applying certain graphics or other features which make the articles appear more like conventional clothing, and more particularly like conventional undergarments. Training pants represent an intermediate stage for a child between using diapers and using cloth underpants. By making the training pants more closely resemble the undergarments or other clothing that an older sibling or parent wears, it is believed that children ready for toilet training will be more amenable to wearing the training pants. Other absorbent pants-type articles are worn by older children that still experience nighttime incontinence and by adults who experience periodic incontinence. These persons are typically more sensitive to issues of discretion and therefore desire some way to conceal the fact that they are wearing absorbent pants.
One drawback to simply improving the external appearance of existing absorbent pants is that the entire pants must still be discarded after use. As a result, additional features which are added to entice children to wear the pants or otherwise conceal the absorbent look of the pants add further costs to making and using the pants. Moreover, clothes must still be worn over the absorbent pants, which can be uncomfortable and results in a rather bulky appearance. Also, to inhibit the leakage of exudates from absorbent articles such as training pants or other absorbent pants, it is important that the article fit generally snug against the wearer's body. For example, conventional training pants are constructed to provide a generally elastical fit about the wearer's waist and about the wearer's legs to inhibit leakage from the pants. However, many conventional garments that are worn about one's waist, such as shorts, skirts, skorts, boxer shorts, swim trunks and the like, all have a more loose fitting appearance, particularly about the legs of the wearer.